Posts Tagged ‘terror’

The attacks on our embassies around the world are clearly being orchestrated. How did Al Qaeda flags suddenly appear all over the world at the same time? Contrary to what the administration is saying, this is not just about an obscure, anti-Islamic film. It is a coordinated assault on the United States. It is now apparent that the Libyans provided advance warning three days before American personnel were murdered, but these warning were ignored. The Libyans themselves are more pro-American than just about anyone in the Muslim world. But there, as elsewhere, there is a Salafist fundamentalist Islamic movement that demands a literal interpretation of the Koran and wants to take things back to the 7th century. Now these guys can scream and demonstrate against presumed offenses, but even they do not bring RPG’s to a demonstration. The goofy “film,” or at least the idea of it, no doubt did enrage many Muslims, but all of this was just an added bonus for Al Qaeda, which organized these attacks beforehand, specifically for September 11 as part of its continuing war on the United States and the west.

The administration’s apology tour and outreach to Muslims policy is in shambles. The President thought all he had to do was simply make a speech in Cairo and his charisma would move the masses, but the end result is that he is actually less popular in the Islamic world today than George Bush was. But this fumbling has been obscured by the media’s dutiful diversion of attention from the actual substance of things that are happening to focus on an alleged Romney mistake in criticizing the administration. They were actually recorded coordinating questions to Romney, which he, unlike the President, actually answered. Any remaining credibility these partisan hacks may have had has now all but vanished. On top of this we have the left-wing response, which right away is seeking to curtail our rights of free expression in order to accommodate external foes, rather than to defend our way of life. The government has hauled in the creator of the video for questioning, allegedly on other grounds, while at least Google has courageously refused to bow to pressure to take it off of You Tube. When will they understand that, to paraphrase Pericles, we may not be interested in the rest of the world, but the rest of the world is interested in us?

These brazen assaults are a result of the government’s desire to be loved, which betrays a fatal weakness. For it has stood Machiavelli on his head by choosing to be loved rather than feared, and has wound up with neither. It will not use any terminology regarding the “War on Terror.” But the security breach at our consulate was an act of war, as are the continuing attacks on our embassies and should be responded to accordingly. Al Qaeda is targeting American diplomats, and Americans, around the world, and we should be responding to them as we would to an attack on the homeland. But respect for the US has fallen to such an extent that we can’t even get some countries to allow our Marines in to defend our embassies, and instead are withdrawing personnel. Is it even safe for us to be traveling now? It is time to dispense with the illusion of being loved and instill some real fear in our enemies, for that is the only way to gain any respect.

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how battlefield medicine has improved, saving many more lives, particularly of soldiers who step on IEDs. Nevertheless the loss of limbs infuriated me. In one case a British Captain had his legs blown off, one arm, and four fingers on the other, leaving him with one finger. There is no reason in the world why we should continue to absorb such casualties. We should have had a technology to detect these things by now. In the absence of such methods I believe what we should do is put enemy POWs in front of our troops so they become the victims instead of our young men. I don’t want to hear any more about the rules of war, the Geneva convention, etc. because none of that applies here. These enemy combatants are not state actors, they recognize no rules of conduct, they have no respect for life, and are happy with death and martyrdom anyway. They would eventually think twice about planting IEDs if they themselves were to be the victims and it would help curtail this treacherous tactic. There are those who would fret about “world opinion,” i.e. left-wingers, but think of all the lives that could be saved, and of all those young men now sitting in hospitals missing limbs. Let us use the enemy against the enemy. It is only justice.

In a prior blog I had made the case for profiling to identify terrorism. In response I heard from John D. Byrnes who runs the Center for Aggression Management. They have come up with a methodology for identifying potentially aggressive behavior that seems to fit the bill. It uses a Continuum of Aggression to measure an individual’s proclivity towards violence. This is particularly useful in the workplace where there are many incidents of employees or former employees behaving violently towards others. Mr. Byrnes feels this approach could be useful in identifying potential terrorists, and certainly would have worked in the case of Major Hassan. It is definitely worthy of investigation for use by the authorities. If such techniques can be further refined we might have an additional tool for pinpointing terrorists. For more information go here.

This administration is proving to be soft on terrorism, which may resonate as much as “soft on communism” did years back. Thus far it cannot even bring itself to use the word “terrorism;” Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano refers to “man-caused disasters.” She is now going to deploy scanners to see through our underwear because the underpants bomber tried to blow up a plane in Detroit. Meanwhile he is being sent to the civilian judicial system rather than being treated as an enemy combatant and he’s already lawyered up.

Add to that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who planned 9/11. He, along with other Guantanamo inmates, is being transferred to New York for prosecution, as though he were an ordinary American criminal rather than a mass murdering enemy of the United States. We’re also still closing Guantanamo with prisoners likely to be transferred to the US, and of course we’ve banned torture or any other irregular methods of questioning. Basically terrorist now have all the rights of an American citizen under this administration.

Meanwhile despite these accommodating policies and Obama’s speech in Cairo attempting to reconcile with the Muslim world, their war against us continues. But “we” no longer consider it a war; it’s just criminal activity now. If anything the war against us has intensified. We have had the murders committed by Major Hassan, the underpants bomber, the attempted attack on the NYC transit system, and the murder of several CIA agents in Afghanistan by a double agent for the other side, all in one year. Yet the CIA has been castrated and rendered ineffective by new “humane” policies.

In France by contrast, the response to the underpants bomber has been immediate. An Imam preaching hatred of the West was summarily deported, and scrutiny of flights and travelers mainly from Muslim countries has been increased- profiling without shame. When France has a more robust anti-terror policy than the U.S. you know something is really wrong. The bottom line is that the left cannot be trusted with our security.

Maybe the only way to get the truth from Nancy Pelosi is to waterboard her. The proterrorist left claims that enhanced interrogation techniques are inconsistent with our “values.” The truth is that this is not inconsistent with our values, but with liberal values. The first duty of government is to protect the public from harm. That is “value” number one. If the state fails to do that it is effectively a “failed state.” This approach has successfully kept us safe for eight years. Former CIA director George Tenet said that enhanced interrogations alone provided more information than everything obtaine from “the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together.”

This is fairly obvious to everyone but the loony left, who still seek tribunals to punish our own people for keeping us safe. These are people that hate the military, intelligent services, jet pilots, astronauts, and any other admirable Americans. They are more concerned with the “rights” of the terrorists than protecting the public. Pelosi now shares these views, while lying about having been briefed about terrorist interrogations, and claiming the CIA is lying. Obama, to his credit, has at least resisted releasing photos that make the military look bad, continued military tribunals, and supported the CIA, while unfortunately pursuing the “values” line in rejecting interrogations. But it will be interesting to watch Pelosi twisting in the wind as the truth emerges.

When it comes to a terrorist threat to thousands of innocent people, I believe that any means necessary can be justified in the face of attempted mass murder. These are not people who are impressed by “soft power” or subject to persuasion. The only way we are going to end this menace is to terrorize the terrorists.

For the first time in history we have a President whose commitment to this country is equivocal, if not tenuous. Only such a man could go abroad and criticize the US as though he were somehow above and apart from it. Only such a man could go abroad and apologize for his country, while shaking hands with Latin American radicals who excoriated the US, because he does not believe in this country and he does not believe it is good. It requires a radical transformation from the anointed one.

At first glance his soft approach might not seem bad, to the extent that it ratchets down anti-Americanism. But our enemies will only perceive this as weakness, and take advantage of it. He has called off the war on terror, released “torture” documents and photos giving aid and comfort to our enemies, and allowed that the Attorney General might prosecute officials of the prior administration for legal advice they gave that kept the country free from attack for seven years. Republicans must let it be known that if these political inquiries proceed, using the power of the state to punish political enemies, that the next time there is a Republican President they will go after the Obama administration for the treason they are committing.

What we have here is the most radical administration in American history, empowering the far left while claiming to be post-partisan. This is not surprising given that the instincts of Obama and his wife have always been those of black radicals, which was successfully hidden from the electorate and helped by the awful campaign run by John McCain, who refused to raise such issues. Under his policies we can expect the country to grow weaker, more vulnerable, and poorer as the government expands into every aspect of life. The policies of this administration make it a near certainty that Americans will be attacked again, and there can be no doubt who will have been responsible.

The Obama administration has made a series of rash decisions that will come back to haunt us. Never mind the closing of Gitmo. The restrictions on coercive interrogation, rendition, restrictions on the CIA, etc. are a disaster waiting to happen. This is a surrender in the war on terror in favor of the civilian justice system. It is totally asymmetrical and deprives us of essential weapons to protect the nation.

Treating terrorists as, in effect, ordinary criminals opens the door to endless legal challenges, including getting the courts to force open national security secrets. CIA interrogators now have to be nice to these people and cannot force any information from suspects. Al Qaeda will have a field day as people worried about their careers and possible prosecution avoid taking any risks.

This is compounded by leftists in the congress who unbelievably want to “investigate,” and prosecute Bush administration officials for “war crimes,” i.e. taking steps to protect our country. Congressmen Conyers and Senator Levin of Michigan should be “renditioned!” If the left proceeds with this war on common sense we must be ready to reciprocate and give fair warning it will cut both ways.

What we really need is a squad of assassins to go after the terrorists. We should also encourage the CIA and other field officers to ignore these restrictions with the promise that when conservatives return to power they will be absolved of any wrongdoing. This means if a terrorist has information about a pending attack it should be obtained by any means necessary to prevent the murder of innocents. The liberals would treat such people as “war criminals” when they in fact are heroes.

These actions have once again left us vulnerable. Let there be no doubt who is responsible when the next attack occurs and may they pay accordingly.